Thursday, July 21, 2011

Another sunny day in L.A.

Ross and a friend from high school that is in the same mission. Elder Haslem, and a couple of others who jumped in.This is a nicer part of L.A. Ross rarely visits this part of the city.

Dearest family. I had a good week. We worked real hard!

We got a couple investigators to church yesterday!! We have been working really hard with them to help them be baptized on the 31st of this month. They are 17 and 14, and all their family is members. Their mom is inactive, but their grandma is active, so they have been coming with her. They are fun to work with, and it helps a lot having their grandma to help them feel comfortable at church. Saddly, we didn't get anybody else to church. Our other baptismal date, didn't make it. She is otherwise really good at coming to church. She has a date for the 31st as well.

Yesterday we taught some awesome new investigators about the Restoration and there was a really loud, live mariachi band playing at the neighbor's house during the whole lesson. Those Mexicans can play trumpets really loud. But we were still able to have a powerful lesson with them. They are two men. It's really nice teaching men because we can go inside. When we teach women we can't go inside their house unless there is another man present, so we teach a lot of women on thier porches so we can be obedient to the rules.

We are still working really hard with two other investigators. They have been worrying a lot about polygamy, so we have had a couple intense lessons with them lately. We had a really spiritual experience when I rebuked her son because he was bringing anti-Mormon material into the home and ruining their progress. It was really intense. I'll have to read you my journal entry later. She tried telling us that she was done trying to read the Book of Mormon. She almost gave up on us! We couldn't take that as an answer. So we made sure she understood that she NEEDS to read it and pray about it before she gives up. We told her that that is the only way to know that this church is true.

We also had a really intense lesson with a gangster yesterday. He had gotten into a fight the night before and he could barely move when we were teaching him. He is a less active member. It was amazing to see such a tough, proud man break down into tears and tell us how bad he feels that he is hurting his family. He told us that all the punches and cuts and bullet marks weren't the things that really hurt him, but his suffering family. He has two daughters and a nice wife. We are going to work with him so they can all get active. Ask to see that journal entry too.

Well, Los Angeles is as beautiful as ever. We went over to a nice part of Los Angeles today to see the "La Brea Tar Pits" where there are natural tar pits where animals used to get stuck a long long time ago. It is a musuem now. But the most interesting part for me was all the white people walking around! I haven't seen that many white people since the MTC, and that's no lie! It is honestly really weird to see white people now.

The church is true. I love it with all my heart. I'm so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven that has everything in control. I'll attach some pictures, since I haven't sent any in a long time! I love you all. Keep being good, it's worth it!

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Mission Address

You should address his letters like this:

Elder Ross M. Watkins

California Los Angeles Mission

1591 East Temple Way

Los Angeles, CA 90024-5801

Packages go to the same address. However, when sending food, send it in a metal tin. The mission home must often store packages out in the courtyard and the resident squirrel population always finds their way to the packages with food. :)